As Google+ Floods the Internet, Other Updates May Be Missed

As Google+ Floods the Internet, Other Updates May Be Missed

The social world has been on fire since June 28th. Google Plus posts, tweets and chats are pouring steadily into the social sphere at a steady pace, and show no signs of slowing down. You simply can’t keep up with all of them (we’ve tried).

Many of these posts are somewhat regurgitated content. They’re about how the particular author is using G+ (what the cool kids are calling Google Plus), what they’ve found, why they love it (or hate it), and so on. A few, on the other hand, are quite simply works of art.

Google + Review and Privacy Issues

Circle Packing!

AJ Kohn (creator of Blind Five Year Old, SEOmoz Search Ranking Panelist and so on), for example, wrote a lengthy Google+ Review. Rather than expound on how he’s using the world’s newest social platform, he pinpoints a few issues in the seemingly most enjoyed part – Circles. AJ writes:

“I’m not sure Circles works in practice, or at least not the way many though they would. The flexibility of Circles could be its achilles heel. I have watched people create a massive ordered list of Circles for every discrete set of people. Conversely, I’ve seen others just lump everyone into a big Circle. Those in the latter seem unsettled, thinking that they’re doing something wrong by not creating more Circles.”

One thing that really stuck with us at Level343 is his thoughts on Circles privacy. G+ has gone to a great deal of trouble to give you privacy at an insane level of control. Share with a single person or many, a specific circle or entirely public, and so on. Yet, your privacy only goes so far as the person you share with. If they find it humorous, thought provoking and so on, they are quite capable of sharing it with others. Privacy gone.

As well, as AJ shows, the handy dandy sharing model gives away some things about you that you may not have planned. In a test, he manages to hunt down over 1,000 Googlers that may, or may not, have been under the radar as a Google employee. This kind of information is quickly available just by “skimming” the content of others’ circles. Again, the idea of veil of privacy seems a little thinner than first perceived.

What’s Google’s Real Goal with G+?

Then you have the question that’s been pandered about, “Is Google Plus a Facebook killer?” Amongst the yeas and nays being posted, Marshall Kirkpatrick (Technology Journalist and lead writer for ReadWriteWeb), mentions another possibility on his personal blog.Marshall writes:

“Listening tonight to an interview with Plus designer Joseph Smarr on the IEEE Podcast, it became clear to me that for at least some of Plus’s leadership the goal is not to win social networking outright, or to kill any competitors, but to disrupt the social networking economy with a big enough, good enough and popular enough service that the walled gardens (Facebook in particular) are forced to open up interoperability enough that their users can communicate with the significant enough number of people in their lives that use a different social network.”

Not all the commentors agree, of course. Some argue that Google’s goals are based more on improved PageRank and AdWords click-ability. The comments themselves are a good read, along with the post. What’s Google’s real aim? Only Google knows; however, for anyone paying attention, it’s obvious Google isn’t just creating a new social platform.

Writer Steven Levey says the search giant higher-ups have put Google + on the permanent map. Even if it fails, it’s not going anywhere but back to the drawing board:

“No one expects an instant success. But even if this week’s launch evokes snark or yawns, Google will keep at it. Google+ is not a product like Buzz or Wave where the company’s leaders can chalk off a failure to laudable ambition and then move on. ‘We’re in this for the long run,’ says Ben-Yair. ‘This isn’t like an experiment. We’re betting on this, so if obstacles arise, we’ll adapt.’”

This was a great article and well worth reading for those interested in the minds behind Google’s latest venture into social. Again, there’s some definite thought-provoking gold in the comments as well as the post.

What Might Have Been Missed

With all the “news that is news” about G+ flooding the Net, however, a few other changes and details seem to have slipped by a large majority. For example:

Are We Jumping the Gun a Little?

Gun Failing

Oddly, or perhaps not so oddly, as soon as Google+ came out, people (read SEOs and marketers) started “testing” to see what impact G+ might have on the SERPs. Others immediately began speculating on how G+ could be used for business purposes. Still others wondered how it tied in with +1… and so on.

Okay, so maybe trying to figure out how to apply a new social platform to business is just, well, business. –And yet, does it makes sense when that platform (even if it IS Google’s platform) is still in testing?

Feedback is still pouring in, to the extent that Google posted a “known issues” page. They’re obviously still fine-tuning, especially in areas such asSparks and Gmail/G+ integration. In short, it’s still a work in progress, and any “test” will most likely end up with the conclusion of “we need to do more tests”.

Quite simply, we have no idea what the final pièce de résistance will be. While you’re planning how to use “Hangouts” for business purposes, they could very well be changing it to the point that your plan is useless (just as an example, people). Give it some time – learn how to use it, or how your target market will use it, before spending oodles of time planning!

Conclusion

The times they are a changing. The old Google is, quite simply, gone – for two reasons. One, they seem to have a fresh new perspective on how to finally reach out to their market (everybody). Two, and most importantly, they’ve become active listeners. They ask questions about a specific area of G+ (for example) and then listen to the answers.

Is it a kindler, gentler Google? Naw – it’s still gigantic monolith of a corporation with an eye on the bottom line and a finger in every honey pot. However, it appears that the company is, at the very least, a smarter, wiser Google. Kisses, and hugs from Europe…

This account is where everyone involved with Level343 content marketing efforts show up. You can say there is no "I" in this team. Sometimes we will chat about a certain topic with a variation of ideas, suggestions, even opinions. Then one of us will start writing the post, hand it over to someone else who will continue the diatribe. Eventually it ends up on our editors desk who either chops the hell out of it, or you're reading it right now.

49 Comments

I like your impression of Smarr’s comments — that “the goal is not to win social networking outright, or to kill any competitors, but to disrupt the social networking economy” to open up the walled gardens. Seems to me that the “I win you lose” argument makes no sense in social media — even in the business end of social media. Social media exists through a process of community building. The old Michael Porter ideas of competitive strategy need a new update to work in Social Media. Building walls and moats is counter-productive.

In a way, this reminds me of the pre-industrialization idea of wealth-building — plunder — vs. the post-industrialization idea — trade. We enrich everyone through the trade philosophy, and mistrust everyone through the plunder philosophy. Perhaps the emergence of social media is a lot more important than any of us think. Maybe it’s a large scale “long wave” culture-change catalyst.

Facebook can easily destroy Google Plus in its infancy by simply copying the circles feature for their own platform. The ability to group contacts separately is the only compelling reason I can see for using G+ over Facebook. In any event, I hope that the walled gardens of all these social media platforms start coming down or at least become interoperable. Maintaining a viable presence in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google Plus at the same time is not something I particularly look forward to.

After yesterday’s attack of dodgy Internet and proverbial kicking of our provider, I finally get to respond!

“Social media exists through a process of community building.” Yes, yes! Exactly! I wouldn’t call it precisely a prediction, but I’m betting when all the furor dies down, no social platform will be lost. Each network has it’s own community and it’s own use.

Facebook will lose some people, though, I’m sure… specifically due to the fact that many were unhappy because of their privacy issues and so on – and just LOOKING for somewhere else to go.

“Perhaps the emergence of social media is a lot more important than any of us think.” AHA! It’s definitely a culture-change catalyst – definitely. Because social media brings us closer than, say, just email, consumers are starting to expect that kind of closeness from the companies they buy from. -And, since consumers are us and we are the consumers, we’re expecting more from our online relationships period.

Thanks for the great comment, Glenn – I hate to get so verbose (sort of lol), but I really think we (marketers, social media-ists, SEOs, copywriters, what have you) have a unique perspective on the flow of online business and conversation. We get to see all this stuff from the outside, and the “social effect” greatly intrigues me.

I agree – we will continue to have multiple platforms. And things are definitely getting more exciting

I guess it hit me for the first time, while reading this post, that the classic Harvard Business School model of competition could actually start to REALLY break down in the face of the social media.

Creating moats and walls (through attempts to create non-standard standards) is something Microsoft tried (actually continued) in the 90s. That effort crippled their ability to adapt IE as real standards started to take hold. They are still forced to accommodate the legacy of Office, Front Page (etc.) generated HTML — what a waste ! If they had only taken the lead on creating open standards they would be in great shape. The same thing happened earlier with SQL stds (a longer story.)

The idea that SM is a “large scale …culture-change catalyst” has already been confirmed by events in the middle east. Whether it’s long-wave, we’ll have to see. Comparing SM’s importance to the Industrial Revolution is a bit of a “stretch” for me… but m’be worth throwing on the idea pile I’m beginning to think that some of the emerging trends are as important as the assembly line, Frederick Taylor’s theory, etc. Perhaps we are too close to SM to truly appreciate this.

On the scary side – I have to confess to being a bit of a Ray Kurzweil fan and I think SM is on track with his (very controversial) “Singularity” theory… ideas I’m not ready to recap on the record

As I mentioned to Glenn in comments below, I certainly don’t see G+ replacing Facebook entirely. Everyone has their own favorite communities (look at the MySpace hangers-on). However, I don’t think copying circles is a way to destroy Google Plus, either.

One of the things G+ has that FB doesn’t is ultimate privacy management. It’s your data; you decide who you’re going to share it with, and whether you’re going to allow them to share it with anyone else.

Yet, even though privacy can be micro-controlled by the user, the interaction level and potential is incredibly high. It’s much easier to 1) find new people to read and connect with 2)interact with those people and 3) initiate conversations than on FB. Of course, this is my opinion, and I, for one, have never been much of a Facebook user.

The important part, in terms of social, goes along with your final sentence, though. As with any social platform, you test and, if the test fails, leave it alone. Spreading your social efforts out into four or more platforms is a good way to also lessen the impact of your efforts.

Thanks for commenting, Alex! As always, it’s a pleasure to have you on here!

@warrenwhitlock w/40,000 + patents available we believe that staying relevant/#SEO organic is the way to go http://ht.ly/5X4An -Good morning

Social Branding, Sheeple and Plans – What’s In Your Network?
August 8, 2011 at 1:55 AM

[…] While I was away, as we all know, Google decided to throw their hat into the social circle with Google +. Don’t worry; I promise this isn’t about G Plus, but about managing your social. I don’t care […]

[…] While I was away, as we all know, Google decided to throw their hat into the social circle with Google +. Don’t worry; I promise this isn’t about G Plus, but about your social.I don’t care if it’s […]

Adam
July 12, 2012 at 12:07 AM

If Google were to take over Facebook, it would be no surprise to me. Google has become the main player for all things Internet. They took over Blogspot, Youtube and it will not be surprising if they bought out to completely take over Facebook.

Google is ruthless to say the least. No competetion is the Google way, right? Another thing that bothers me the most about Google is that they record every, single search you do. They are not discarded after you make your search. This means they know what you are looking for, what that search is for and the next time you do a Google search, they bring up ‘relevant’ ads to entice you. This is just wrong and an invation of privacy.